186 Game Puzzles
- TURNING THE DIE
This is played with a single die.
The first player calls any number he
chooses, from I to 6, and the second
player throws the die at hazard. Then
they take it in turns to roll over the
die in any direction they choose, but
never giving it more than a quarter
turn. The score increases as they pro-
ceed, and the player wins who man-
ages to score 25 or force his opponent
to score beyond 25. I will give an
example game. A calls 6, and B hap-
pens to throw a 3 (as shown in our
illustration), making the score 9. Now
A decides to turn up I, scoring 10; B
turns up 3, scoring 13; A turns up 6,
scoring 19; B turns up 3, scoring 22;
A turns up 1, scoring 23; and B turns
up 2, scoring 25 and winning.
What call should A make in order
to have the best chance of winning?
Remember that the numbers on op-
posite sides of a correct die always
sum to 7, that is, 1-6,2-5,3-4.- THE THREE DICE
the beginning of the game. As a mat-
ter of fact, Mason selected seven and
thirteen, and one of his winning
throws is shown in the illustration.
What were his chances of winning
Mason and Jackson were playing a throw? And what two other num-
with three dice. The player won when- bers should Jackson have selected for
ever the numbers thrown added up his own throws to make his chances
to one of two numbers he selected at of winning exactly equal? - THE 37 PUZZLE GAME
Here is a beautiful new puzzle
game, absurdly simple to play but
quite fascinating. To most people it
will seem to be practically a game of
chance-equal for both players-butFlr::l~~~
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